
YOUTH
106 young respondents from Peru have participated in the survey, 43% of them are members of a youth organization(s). The majority of the respondents has stated that youth crime is a problem nowadays. They have pointed out that the most common crime conducted by the young people are: theft (41,5%) armed robbery (36,8%), grievous bodily harm, destruction of property.
Almost 39% (41 people) respondents pointed out that they have met a young (ex) offender. In addition, the greatest number of respondents stated that they have a neutral attitude towards young people who committed a crime.
Most of the respondents (86%) have also notified that the main problem (ex) offenders face is non-acceptance by society. Other main problems are finding a job, lack of social and professional skills and financial difficulties.
According to the youth in Peru such activities as
- involvement in a youth organisation (65, 4%)
- support for families at risk (57%)
- support at school (47%)
- prevention programmes (47%)
- free and available leisure activities (43%)
- reduced access to alcohol and drugs (42%)
- better attitude from society (33%)
would help to reduce the juvenile delinquency.
Almost half of the respondents stated that the inclusion of young offenders in youth work could be one of the reintegration tools.
49 young respondents who also took part in youth organizations have answered an additional set of questions. Half of them take part in the work of youth centres, other people are participating in activities of NGOs (32,7%), community (10,2%) and informal group (6,1%). The major activities in which these young people participate are
- art and culture (23 people),
- religious activities (10 people),
- social helping (10 people),
- sexual education (3 people),
- volunteering and citizenship (2 and 1 persons accordingly).

Most of the respondents (97,9%) stated that they would accept young ex-offender in the organizations, but approximately half of them said that they would remain cautious towards him/her. Young people who were against accepting ex-offender at the organization stated that the main barrier is the risk of recidivism.
43% of the young people said that they are interested in joining social events together with (ex) offenders which will be done during the project. Activities as art and sports, voluntary work, talent shows and practical educational workshops were named by most respondents as activities which they want to participate together with (ex) offenders.

The main reasons to participate in these activities for young people are:
- willingness to help this group of society (58%)
- curiosity to get to know these people (18%)
- possibility to improve their skills (12%).
On the other hand, the main reasons which prevent some people from participating at events together with offending youth are fear (15,2%) and lack of knowledge on how to communicate with such people (37,9%), lack of time (29%) and lack of interest in the topic.
YOUTH WORKERS
11 youth workers have participated in the survey. More than half of the people have more than 5 years of working experience with youth, 27% – 4 or 5 years of experience, and 20% -up to three years of experience.

The youth workers who have answered the survey are working in an NGO (36, 4%), youth centres (27,3%), schools (18,2%), associations, and cultural centres.
Most of the respondents are working with young people in general (10 respondents). However, some of the respondents also indicated students, vulnerable people (e.g. orphans, ex-offenders) and minorities as target groups of the organizations.
The main activities conducted by these organizations are:
- art workshops – 4 youth organizations;
- social help – 3 youth organizations;
- drug prevention – 2 youth organizations;
- sport and human rights activities – 1 youth organization for each activity.
All of the respondents noted that youth crime is a problem nowadays. Approximately 80% of the youth workers are welcome to join young (ex) offenders to the organization, but 36% of them stated that additional preparation is needed for the organization. In addition, approximately half of them said that they would remain cautious towards him/her. Only one respondent said that he/she will be against (ex) offender to join youth organization.
Youth workers have considered that activities such as;
- festival and public activities
- prevention of delinquency and drug abuse
- social help
- painting or dancing
could be the ones in which young (ex) offenders could be successfully involved / could help to organize.
According to the workers of youth organizations, an involvement of (ex) offenders in an organization could bring positive results such as solving the important problem of society, reducing re-offending, develop skills and promote integration of ex-offenders, improvement of youth worker’s and young people’s skills and competencies.

The main issues the youth workers may face when working with (ex) offenders are: a sense of insecurity, lack of professional competence, lack of financial or human resources and a negative reaction of youth or other workers in the organization.

In order to facilitate the involvement of young (ex) offenders in the organization’s daily activities, youth workers noted that special training (9 respondents) and methodology (8 respondents); financial support (5 respondents) and online platform (2 respondents) are needed.